The Digital Divide and Gender: A Survey of Environmental Community Organizations in Perth, Western Australia

Subas Prasad Dhakal

Abstract

The ‘organizational divide’ is generally considered to be the lack of capability of community organizations to adopt and effectively utilize Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Although the need of building ICTs capability of Australian community organizations has been emphasized in recent years, the gender dimension has been mostly overlooked. This paper responds to this gap and explores the trend of ICTs adoption, or the lack of it, amongst Environmental Community Organizations (ECOs) in Western Australia with a gender lens. The preliminary findings from a survey of 81 ECOs indicated that benefits, barriers and capabilities associated with ICTs adoption significantly differed according to gender of the leader. Drawing on the findings, the paper discusses why gender matters in overcoming organizational divide and makes pragmatic recommendations.